Synagogue near Auschwitz in danger of collapsing

By: Sarah Weiss
The synagogue near Auschwitz is in danger of collapsing, according to press reports in Israel.

An official warned that the only synagogue near the Nazi death camp Auschwitz, may crumble if the hillside it sits upon is not reinforced soon.

The Lomdei Mishnayot Synagogue is the only one which still exists in Oswiecim, the southern city where Nazi Germans executed Jews in the Auschwitz death camp during World War Two. The synagogue was rededicated in 2000 to try to revive Jewish life which was vibrant in the city before the war.

The leader of the Jewish center, Tomasz Kuncewicz, said this week that the building is on shaky ground. Work is needed to shore up the foundations in the spring, but organizers are seeking $330,000 for the effort.
Some 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were killed in Auschwitz.